- The Zinger
- Easy Does It
- Come Sunday A Penny for Your Thoughts
- Jenny
- C T’s Express
- Big Bad Blues
- Dues Blues
- Tee Pee Time
- Sheba
- Cold Tater Stomp
- Just Squeeze Me
- Mumbles Returns
Clark Terry – Conductor, Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Trumpets – Thomas Vogel, Claus Reichstaller, Karl Farrent, Rudi Reindi
Trombones – Ernst Hutter, Marc Godfroid, Ian Cumming, George Maus
Saxes – Bernd Rabe, Klaus Graf, Peter Weniger, Andreas Maile
Rainer Heute
Piano – Klaus Wagenleiter
Bass Decebal Badila
Drums – Jorg Gebhardt
In the league of all time great trumpet players Louis
Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie would occupy positions one and two,
I would put Clark Terry as number three his style is easy to recognise
and like that of no-one else. He is a thoughtful and imaginative soloist
with original ideas, an exciting style and a capability to play with
great feeling and emotion. He honed his skills in the bands of Count
Basie and Duke Ellington and it is hard to imagine a finer training
ground.
The SWR Big Band, based in Stuttgart is extremely
impressive, they play with great precision, excellent dynamics and
the ability to swing as a complete entity. They are also blessed with
some good soloists and always give an excellent account of themselves.
The band starts to swing right from the first number
called The Zinger, it is a fine big band arrangement by Dave Leech
and an ideal opener. The first soloist is Rainer Heute on Baritone,
followed by Andy Maile on Tenor, Ian Cumming on Trombone and Clark
himself on Flugel. All the solos are good, but Clark, as you would
expect, is exceptional and the ensemble playing of the band precise
and very musical.
Easy Does It, as it’s name implies is an easy swinger,
this time Clark is featured on tightly muted trumpet. The band again
is very impressive
As Clark was with the Ellington Band for some years
as a featured soloist, it would have been surprising if there was
not an Ellington number on this record.
Come Sunday shows off the soloists Flugel and he
gives a masterful performanc e..
A Penny for Your Thoughts is a nice medium tempo
swinger with a nice solo from the excellent Peter Weniger and Clark
again on Flugel. The first class ensemble playing of the band makes
a great contribution to this track.
Jenny was written by Ernie Wilkins as a dedication
to Clark’s wife. I have played this chart, but not with a band who
played it as well as this one does. The dynamics are most important
in this piece and the SWR band get them spot on.
CT’s Express takes the tempo to really bright, the
band takes the tempo in it’s stride and maintains the quality of it’s
performance.
Big Bad blues is another Ernie Wilkins chart, apparently
he and Clark are great friends and spend some time in one another’s
company. Ernie of course wrote many charts for the Count Basie Band.
Peter Weniger solos again here and a minor critiscism could be that
like most modern tenor players he plays every note on the saxophone
in every solo. He is such a good player that he is more than capable
of thinking more of phrases than notes.
Dues Blues is a slow feature for Clark on Trumpet,
it has a Ducal feeling about it and it gives him the opportunity to
play some nice plunger mute sounds.
Tee Pee Time was originally written for the Clark
Terry Big Band, the tune was written by Clark, with the arrangement
by Hal Crook. I liked this track a lot (but then I liked all of it
a lot) It ends with Clark playing chase choruses with himself, Flugel
in one hand and Trumpet in the other.
Sheba was written by Clark as well, it is a good
tune reminiscent of Misty. It should be heard more often.
Cold Tater Stomp is a good mid tempo blues which
shows off both band and soloist to good effect.
Just Squeeze Me and Mumbles are obligatory in any
Clark Terry performance and with this excellent band to support him,
he really enjoys himself.
Great big band, superb soloist, great entertainment!
Don Mather
CD Reviews
hanssler CD 93.036
